Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 August 1939 — Page 15

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1939

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Hoosier Vagabond

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. Aug. 16.—Most hotels and tourist camps are run-of-the -mine. Some are worse than others is) about the only difference. But, once in a great while, we run onto one that is just so tastefully and perfectly done we'd like to stay awhile and help the [people run it. That’ s the way it was at our little St George Lodge in Ketchum," Ida., where we spent a vacation in 1937. It burned to the ground last winter, and when the letter came telling us about it we almost wept. And now here in Flagstaff ‘we've found another place that we're crazy about. It’s called Arrowhead Lodge. That sounds pretty flossy, but it’s really a } tourist mp, on a very high plane. been staying here a few days while I did some work. The only trouble is that the. Santa Fe Railroad runs close by. And every time I hear a train eoming, I have to run to the door and count Ue : reigns cars. Can't hardly get no work done a 3 ~ Arrewhead is compbsed of’ three cottage units, surrounding a central lodge. There are. only about a dozen rooms altogether. The place is about a mile ‘east of town, in this beautiful rolling wooded ‘country that surrounds Flagstaff.

It's Just Like Home

The rooms are like the rooms in a fine home.

Hardwood floors and Navajo rugs and reading lights _

and paneled ‘walls and beautiful rustic chairs. We have gone around with spy glasses trying to find some perfect little touch they’d forgotten, but we can’t find any. Maybe you think it’s funny me puffing up a commercial place like this. Well, if you lived in hotels and tourists camps 365 days of the year, you'd probably gurgle a little too when you found one that was surpassing fair.

Here in Flagstaff I had to get a new strap for my.

wrist watch. Got an English pig-skin one that cost a dollar. The jeweler put it on for me. But within

It Seems to Me

‘NEW YORK, Aug. 17.—In traveling around the country the name which was mentioned in regard to 1940 only second to Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Fiorello La Guardia. Many people in Michigan, Chijtago, California and certain sections of Nevada - wanted to know, “How can I ‘vote for LaGuardia for President in 1940?” The only answer I could think of was, “I don’t think youll have any chance” There must be some flaw in our democratic procedure if a man who stands first or second on the preferred list has no chance of putting himself to the test. I will readily agree that all kinds of confusion can occur if seven or eight candidates are running for the post of national executive. In that condition some minor candidate might creep in to represent no majority choice whatsoever. On the whole, our way of politics has functioned best under the two-party system. But where the

danger lies is that the two parties may become so °

similar ‘that we are actually under the reign of a single group. And in that direction fascism lies. Two is company and three is a crowd. ‘But a crowd may be ine democratic way. 8 un ”

Strong Man Without a Purty ;

Going back to La Guardia, it is my opinion that he is by far the strongest man Republicans could nominate in 1940. But they're not going to nominate him, and so there is not much sense in talking about that. Next to ebsevelt he is the strongest Democrats could nominate, But, chance in that convention.

1

man the again, he has no

American Roundup By Bruce Catton

(Second of a Series)

. WILMINGTON, Del, , Aug. 17.—East of Washington is a seemingly endless belt of waterfront docks, factories . and storage yards that extends between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Wilmington is the du Ponts. Physically it is overshadowed by the tall headquarters office building of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. And the most exciting place in that building is a little room where samples of this firm’s 20th Century magic are-on display. Whatever the du Ponts themselves: may be, as a corporate unit they work magic. And the magic is of a sort to make you wonder just how important politics is, after all. | The New Deal has done things ; which will have a lasting effect on American life. Yet in the long run it may well turn out. that it is the du Ponts who have left a deeper imprint on the life of their time. Take nylon, for instance. Down the shore of Dela‘ware Bay, a huge new factory is rising; where du Pont workers will make this uncanny new textile fiber out of coal, air and water. Sheer hose can be made out of it, and us as well—to say nothing of toothbrushes, h rushes, and 100 other things which aren't even in the discussion stage yet. ® = x

New Ore Separation Process

Or take the sink-and-float process, a cheap and handy new ore separation process which—to mention just two of its possibilities—may restore the anthracite coal industry to a profitable basis and may

NEW YORK CITY, Wednesday—We came down to New York City last night. because tonight I am speaking on the hobby-lobby program and I wanted . to spend today with my brother on Long Island. After I have finished on the radio here ‘tonight, we will moter back to Hyde Park, where I am going to make myself very unpopular by interrupting a dance to say a few words at a League for Women Voters party. They hope to raise the money for the county at this party, so let us hope that {the night will be cool, for dancing will then attract more

‘people, for I can’t think that

speeches are going to draw many people at this season of the year. I don’t think Iehave ever mentioned in this column a new achievement by a woman flier. On Tuesday, Aug. 8, * after only six hours of instruction, Miss Jacqueline Cochran made -an instrument landing at a Pittsburgh airport. She is the first woman to land under the hood” without any view of the ground. For many men who have also landed on the airtrack -system, the’ av of instructions has been more than 10 hours, plind landing, as it is called, “is ‘one of the new safety devices installed at only a but some day it probably will be used : eather.

By Ernie Pyle

a couple of days the seams started to rip out. So I took it back, and asked him if he could resew it. But instead he just took a similar strap out of his showcase, took half of it, and put it on the watch.

He used up two strap séts and half an hour's time.. He must Rave lost at least 50 cents on the teal. And glad to do it, too, thank you. .

” 8 8

It Doesn't Make Sense

The other day I was sitting in a restaurant across from the railroad, and the conductor of a freight train came rushing in. I know he was a conductor, because it said so on a little nickel plate tied onto his hat with a string.

He ordered cornflakes, and told the waitress he was in an awful hurry., He kept looking out the window as though afraid his train would go off and leave him, although I would say if a train goes off and leaves its 3 conductor it’s a very funny train. The girl said, “I guess you folks are awful busy, ain’t you?” And the conductor said, “Busy? Railroads never done so much business in their lives. Works us to death. Seems like half the people in the country is starving, and the other half working theirselves io death.” He gobbled his last spoonful, threw his money on the counter, took one swift whirt at the slot machine and then went away, as fast as he could go. I sat there after he left, thinking to myself, “Aint it the truth?” Half of us doing nothing and starving; the*other half working twice too hard. ; The whole world—slaving or starving, starving or slaving. All that is, except me. As for me,"'I work kind ‘of easy-like and practically never get hungry. All I do is just sit in restaurants listening to other people, and pondering. Restaurants in Flagstaff, restaurants in Gallup, restaurants in Hagerstown, restaurants in Meridian, restaurants in Wenatchee. Ponder, ponder, ponder, sitting ‘in restaurants. : Some day’ I will go to sleep in a restaurant, and fall forward into my cornflakes. Eventually they will find me there—drowned, choked, puzzled and cold— the man who pondered himself to death, while others merely slaved and starved.

- By Heywood Broun

As a third party candidate—make the label whatever you please—it is my impression that he would do

far better than Robert La Follette and perhaps as well as or even better than Theodore Roosevelt. Even so, I think I know enough of practical politics to admit that no third party can be thrown together in a hurry. There is the lack of tradition and, even more, the lack of a set and well-heeled organization. Fiorello La Guardia is one of the finest progressives America has ever known, because he qualified in Congress as a man with a national point of view, and proved himself in New York as a person with a high talent for detail and executive capacity in the job which lies second only to that of the man in the White House. He is practical. He knows how to put a good cause over and not get lost in the realm of the unattainable. ® an =

Labels More Important

I think he would run like wildfire throughout the country. I think he would do a superb job in the White House, and I-think he has no chance of getting there in 1940—or ever, perhaps—because of a curious and artificial kind of discrimination which has been set up by our tradition. He is not in any technical sense a Democrat. He is not technically a Republican. And that leaves him out in the cold. We have come to! worship labels ‘more than we follow life-giving leaders. That's silly. What does the label mean? Let us scrap all parties and labels until we Know precisely what they stand for. What is the sense of having a Burke and a Roosevelt in the.same party? A Norris and a Taft under the same symbol? Let the boys get back to that view and opinion to which they really belong.

If the people of the United States want La Guardia, |

why should they be bihete by the billing?

add 60 years or so to the productive life of the great Mesaba iron range. |

Then there’s a queer plastic called lucite, which looks like glass and has the queer property of “piping” light. Take a long, corkscrew cylinder of it, apply a flashlight to one end—and the light comes out of the other like water flowing .through a pipe. Already this is changing techniques in surgical and dental operations; it may also do things to home and office lighting. i

The Fruits of Research

The list is almost endless. There’s zelan, a chemical which renders a fabric water-repellant,’ so that you can spill a bottle of ink or a bowl of greasy soup over an evening gown, wipe the mess off with a damp towel, -and come out as fresh and spotless as before. There's a new rayon cord which triples the life of a heavy-duty auto truck tire. There's something called butacite, which makes shatter-proof glass much stronger and safer. d so on. All of this, of course, means research—on which the du Ponts spend some seven million dollars a year. They have a huge laboratory here, and more than two dozen others in jother places. They keep 1200 research men and 1700 assistants constantly busy. Right now several thousand projects and exploratory inquiries are under way. - A lot of them won't pan out at all, and some of them will pan out differ ently than they're expected to. A man may spend six months trying to get a new plastic and find in the end that what he has is a potent new drug. | But altogether, year after year, there comes this stream of things ir create new industries, change old ones, make production processes cheaper and in oné way or another profoundly affect the material framework in which American life is lived.

By Elednor Roosevelt

cupation, for she manages her own factory which is an outgrowth of her beauty parlor work which she deserted when she took up flying. Some interesting things on education have come to my notice lately. One booklet on the Nash Plan

by Travis A. Elliott, the superintendent of the Nash School, in Nash, Tex., has some very interesting ideas for people who work with children below high school age. Like all progressive ideas, I should think it would require extraordinarily good teachers to put it into practice, but I am glad to see that they have not discarded an obligation on the part of the pupils to become proficient in the tools of learning.

You can never develop your own interests, it seems to me, uniess you know how to reaa and write, and if you don’t discipiine yourself and your mind as a child by learning arithmetic and some other subjects which may not seem so useful at the time, you will be handicapped in many of life's situations. When I was connected with Miss Dickerman in the Todhunter School, I always admired her extraordinary ability to combine the old with the new and to give each child under her care the type of training that child needed. I was always interested in watching her work with the young people and in the contacts which I had with the young people myself. In resigning from the school, I miss not being able to be in such close contact with an expert in handling youngsters, but I know that the future will not hold for me apy school cts, for as one grows older ¢ t co few activities: if

How Lepke Took Over An Industry

(Second of a Series)

By Jack Foster

Times Special Writer

EW YORK, Aug. 17.—

Louis (Lepke) Buchal-

ter and ‘Gurrah Jake Schapiro entered the fields of industrial racketeering 18 years ago. They were in their middle 20s then. All the while they had been stealing packages, clubbing pushcart men—small- fry stuff—they had been keeping their eyes open for big-

ger ventures.

In 1911 the leather workers of New York organized themselves in a union that grew rapidly in strength. It became the envy of a certain mob of strong-arm men who were beginning to realize the possibilities of a new form of extortion. One afternoon in 1914, when the union was holding an election in the Hippodrome, a gang of these thugs, armed with iron pipes, swarmed in and de-

manded that the officers they

designated be chosen. They demanded that each member of the union pay them 10 cents a week for “protection.” The union capitulated. By 1921 the union had grown to 22,000 members. Then it was that Lepke decided to move in. He tock over the racket by installing his own officers in the union. Through agents he demanded—and received —25 cents weekly from each union member, and from the employers he exacted 10 cents for each employee. His strong arm squads, € one of which allegedly was led by !‘Strawberry Joe” Amoruso, captured recently at New Paltz, N. Y., by an alert, vacationing New York detective, ruled with an iron hand.

Despite this the leather workers’ industry grew, and in 1926 Lepke felt himself in a position to demand $1 from employers for each employee. But that was not enough. Agai agents came from Lepke and de manded that the employer contribute an additional $25 semiannually from each employee and charge this up to bonuses.

But the depression came, followed by the regulations of the NRA, and the industry found that with the enormity of the gangster demands it simply could not get along prosperously in New York. Leather manufacturers began . leaving town, going to Bridgeport, Conn.,, and small Pennsylvania cities. Now there are left only a fraction of the thousands once employed in this skilled craft.

s ” o

ITH experience gained among the leather workers, Lepke meanwhile was branching out, and his power soon was felt .in the fur dressing, bakery and garment industry, though in the latter his sway did not extend to the employees, thanks to the fortrigh} stand of Sidney Hillman, head of that union. Through Sam Mittelman he

Louis (Lepke) Buchalter as the police camera

‘caught him during ene of his many early

brushes with the law.

Hailed by New York District Attorney Dewey as the most important arrest in his drive against the fugitive Lepke was the capture of

Joe (Strawberry) Amoruso, left. tenant,”

Amoruso, called Lepke’s “first lieu was seized at New Paltz, N. Y., by New York City Detective

Joseph Thompson, right, who, vacationing at the resort, recognized him as one of those wanted in the rackets probe.

controlled the Protective Fur Dressers’ Corp., covering cheap furs, and through Abraham Beckerman he controlled the Fur Dressers’ Factor Corp. covering fancy furs... 0 ola Lepke ‘promptly set to work to eliminate all competition, to terrorize any dealer who dared oppose the authority of the 'protective organizations. In New York there was the large firm of Brickner & Bernfeld, which had been: sending its furs for dressing to the United Fur Breeders of Bethlehem, not a member of the Protective Corp. As a result, one afterncon while Mr. Brickner was driving with his daughter, a thug sped by in another car and threw acid in their faces. Shortly after this Mittelman came ot him and said: “You better give us all the work, and there won’t be any trouble. Be smart. Give us the work and it won’t happen again.”

8 a s

UT Mr. Brickner did°not give them the work. Whereupon one night he was struck on the head by an unidentified person with an iron pipe, and a little later a gallon of acid was thrown in his face. The resulting burn was so serious that one eye had to be removed. In Gloversville, N. Y., at the same time, Samuel Nissenbaum was operating the Acmié Fur Tanning Co., which was not a member of Mittelman’s Protective. He continued to accept furs for dressing from various dealers in New York. As a result, a bomb ex-

" ploded in his shop, causing $3000

damage. Meanwhile, J. E. Joseph, a dealer at 332 Seventh Ave. also refused to send his furs to. the Protective, and one day he received.an anonymous telephone cal . “Joseph, you take have trouble,” the voice said. “After that,” Mr. Joseph said, “I locked my doors and windows. But

are or youll -

on Mother’s Day ‘when I was sitting near my house, a young fellow comes up, and I think he has presents my children bought for their mother. Instead, he throws acid. in my face...I was blinded, but I still could see him jump fn a car and speed away.”

At the same time that he was terrorizing recalcitrant dealers, Lepke began to bear down on the unions — particularly the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union.

| i BE a O Mittelman was dispatched to ) Irving Potash and Samuel Burt, representing the Needle Craft Union. They met in a Chinese restaurant early in April; 1933, and Mr. Potash in discussing their conversation later said:

“Mr. Mittelman is a sort of— well, trying to be clever, referred to - the murder of Mr. Langer (Morris Langer, union manager, fatally injured by the explosion of a bomb under the hood of his automobile). © He said to us, ‘Wasn’t it unfortunate—that killing of Langer?’ He said, ‘Don’t you think we ought to avoid any repetition of this sort of difficulty?” When we were about to part he again referred to the murder of Langer, and he said to me, in the presence of the others, he said, ‘Mr. Potash, you know with whom we are dealing and with whom you are dealing.’

“I knew, but I wanted to make it clear. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘You know that in back of this association is Lepke and Gurrah, and these people are not playing.’ I think he said at that time ‘not playing with toys,” or something of this

sort, and again referred to Lan-'

ger.” ” ” ” ITTELMAN then asked Mr. Potash ahd Mr. Burt if théy would like to “meet the boys. ”. Mr. Burt replied: “Well, of course, I will have to

Po

The Belmont Ave. market in Brownsville where Lepke and Gurrah Jake won their racketeering spurs by preying on the merchants,

take up various disputes with them arising between the workers and the employers.” To this Mittelman quickly Tesponded: “Not that. These boys take care of their own disputes, and they. settle their disputes in a different manner.” Whereupon Mr. Potash and Mr. Burt refused to have anytRing to do with them. : The result was that on April 24, 1933, a gang of 12 or more thugs armed with iron pipes smashed into a meeting of the union at 131 W. 28th St., killed two, injured a score, left the place a wreck. By this time the Government had begun an intensive inquiry into the fur racket activities of “the boys.” John Harlan Amen, special assistant to the Attorney General, with his aid, Moses M. Lewis, assisted by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, began to

~accumuldte evidence that resulted

in indictments growing out of violations of the anti-trust laws. » » # Y

HEY were tried before Federal Judge John C. Knox, were found guilty, given two years in the penitentiary and fined $10,000 each. In imposing the sentence

Judge. Knox said: “I’ve -been: on’ the" “bench "20

‘years. I've heard many stories ot

lawlessness, and my sensibilities may have become calloused. But the details of mayhem, battery, bombings and acid throwing in

this case have shocked and ang--

ered me. This industry was ruled by the rule of the teeth and the claw.” Attorneys for Lepke and Gurrah announced that they would appeal the verdicts, but Judge Knox refused to grant them. bail pending the hearings. However, less than a month later—Dec. 4. 1936—Federal Judge Martin T. Manton, now a convict “himself, as Presiding Judge of the Court of Appeals heard their case ‘in the privacy of his chambers and signed an order releasing them on bail. He set their bonds at $10,000 each, the smallness of which has caused widespread indignation. On appeal the verdict against Lepke was reversed and that against Gurrah was affirmed. But before Gurrah could be taken to the penitentiary both of them had vanished. Gurrah, however, has

‘surrendered and is serving time

on the fur indictments. ” ” ”

EPKE always had made great use of spies. Whenever he would grab control of an organization he immediately would assign some agent to check on the activities of his puppet executives, to be sure that they weren’t robbing him. He had just got his hooks into the Flour and Bakery

Drivers’ Union. Wolfie Goldis and

Samuel Schorr he had installed as the big officers of the union through his racket chief—fat Max

Silverman—following the murder

of William Snyder. Farihiul boys— Wolfie and Sam

“world.

—he thought. But in the unders world you can’t trust even your = mother. So he set up Max Rubin © in an office at 22 E. 17th St. a ° building in which the union had headquarters, and instructed him to keep tab on the boys. ; ” un ” ‘ OWEVER, Rubin was caught up in the net that Mr. Dewey suddenly threw over the. under Lepke was being bedevilled by the Federal Governe ment and he scurried to hiding. In hiding, Lepke had no way of knowing what Rubin had told the

. District Attorney. He apparently

became jittery. He decided that Rubin must go.

So on Oct. 1, 1937—less than ‘three months after he had gone into hiding—Lepke sent out a gunman to kill him. The gunman sent a bullet into the base of his skull as he was crossing the street at Steuben Ave. and Gunhill Road, the Bronx. It is a miracle that he survived. It isa miracle © for District Attorney Dewey because Max Rubin—in= | furiated by the attempted mur der—now will appear as the State's star witness against Lepke

vin the $rucking and bakery trial, ~

oe ” "sn F the garment industry Lepke and Gurrah, likewise, tried to grab control of both the union and: the body of the employers. Through a dummy, whom Lepke installed as president of the cutters local, they tried to gain ascendency in the vast Amalgaated Clothing Workers of America organization. But Side ney Hillman stopped that. Mr. Hillman had the dummy fied on charges of misappro= yriation of union funds, and he was expelled. A new man, approved by the Amalgamated, was elected president of the cutters. Then Mr. Hillman went to Mdyor James J. Walker and demanded -

. that steps be taken to block the '

attempts of Lepke, Gurrah and their mob to terrorize Amalgamated members. Mayor Walker turned the mat= ter over to police. A few days later police raided a suite at the Hotel Franconia, 20 W. 72d St. . and arrested nine racketeers, headed by Lepke and Gurrah, on | disorderly conduct charges. Po- ! lice held them in the suite for | several pours—questioning them, | trying to drag some. scraps. of L evidence out of them—because . they knew that as soon as they ! reached headquarters they would. be bailed out. Sure enough, when they finally were taken to headquarters, ! bondsmen were waiting, and they ; were promptly released. At any rate, Mr. Hillman’s charges and the unexpected Fran- ! conia raid seem to have given Lepke and Gurrah considerable worry, for they ended their ame bition to take over the clothing union.

NEXT—Lepke in Nareoti PS,

Federal Band Drums Out Safety Lesson to Public

3 By JAMES THRASHER

Music, besides having some highly publicized charms, also has the power to put the public in a listening mood. If the music is good, what-

ever else you have to say is easy.

That is why Indianapolis this year|

has been learning its safety lessons with band accompaniment—to say

nothing of dramatic presentation.*

Last night the Federal Concert Band, with Danvers Julian directing; Sergt Albert Magenheimer of the Police Accident Prevention Bu-|

hildren from five school laygrounds contrived to

reau, and and city please the ears and improve the minds of about 1000 persons in the Garfield Pairk amphitheater. This was the next-to-last of the season series of combined music and safety programs. The final one will be given next Wednesday night at Douglas Park. Mr. Julian and his able ensemble

gave the audience a variety of

music, ranging from Safranek’s “Atlantis” Suite to the ‘Beer Barrel Polka.” A pretty young lady whom Mr. Julian called Betty sang one

number and an encore, and was

cheered to the echo. : Then Frank Luzar, City recreation director, introduced Sergt. Magenheimer. The officer, who has been making addresses all summer and already has 600 speaking engagements lined up ‘for the coming school year, Spoke briefly.

: He urged bicy

cause. of this,

rests for cyclists’ traffic violations next week. Then, on a brighter note, he invited all the children present to the

big safety picnic at Riverside Park

today. : David Milligan, drama director of

the WPA recreation division, *presided over the . safety playlets. The casts were recruited from summer playgrounds. Assuming the guises of animals and Mother Goose characters, they pointed out measures to reduce mootrist, pedestrian and household accidents. Last night's performance was a “play-off” of a concert postponed two weeks ago because of rain. Beand threatening weather yesterday afternoon, it was one of the smallest of the season's Garfield audiences. At that, however, there certainly were

simply to hear a safety talk.

“All of ‘which leads to the con-| clusion. tha , in Indianapolis’ : fic prograxr

many | more than ‘would have turned out

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—What is the common name for methyl alcohol?

.2—Who first advanced theory of relativity?

3—Name the largest inland sea.

4—Was Maine one of the origina] thirteen states?

5—For which American League baseball team does Emil (Dutch) Leonard pitch?

6—What is the product of %x%?

T7—What is the flower symbol for April?

8—Where is the Godavari River? : x 8 = Answers 1—Wood alcohol.

the

i

2—Albert Einstein.

3—Caspian Sea. 4—No. 5 Washington Senators. 6—1%. i T—Daisy. 8—Southern India. t 8 a8 = ASK THE TIMES

_Inclose a 3-cent stamp for. reply when addressing --any Suestion + of fact or information

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

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NO SMOKING IAN THIS WASH ROOM